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Senior Biden administration officials privately believe only weeks remain before a lack of additional <\/a>Ukraine funding starts to become a serious battlefield concern \u2013 a scenario they are trying to avoid with public warnings <\/a>and a major speech from President Joe Biden himself.<\/p>\n The race for the House speakership set off by the historic ouster of Kevin McCarthy <\/a>on Tuesday portends potentially serious consequences for Biden\u2019s efforts to secure Ukraine funding, leaving the administration looking for solutions.<\/p>\n Publicly, officials say they remain convinced the majority of Americans \u2013 including in Congress \u2013 support sustained assistance for Ukraine. Yet the maneuvering this week demonstrates the persistent concern that American assistance to Kyiv could soon slow. Biden on Wednesday hinted that administration officials have been searching for workaround methods of providing Ukraine assistance should the White House\u2019s funding requests go unmet.<\/p>\n \u201cIt does worry me,\u201d Biden said when asked Wednesday whether he was concerned about delivering Ukraine the aid he\u2019s promised. \u201cBut I know there are a majority of members of the House and Senate in both parties who have said that they support funding Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n Administration officials have been warning Congress it must urgently approve additional funds to aid Ukraine\u2019s war efforts \u2013 \u201cobviously time is of the essence,\u201d stressed one official.<\/p>\n Yet without even the chance for a vote on a new speaker until at least next week \u2013 and no clear pathway for a vote on new Ukraine assistance after that \u2013 the prospects of a new assistance package in the near-term appear slim.<\/p>\n Privately, officials believe a weekslong period where Congress were to hypothetically operate without a permanent House speaker \u2013 and not be able to legislate \u2013 would not be hugely concerning as it pertains to Ukraine funding.<\/p>\n Much more troubling, they said, would be if lawmakers begin to approach the end of the length of the most recently passed continuing resolution \u2013 which runs out November 17 \u2013 without any realistic prospects of approving additional funding for Ukraine.<\/p>\n Feeling the urgency, Biden told reporters Wednesday he was planning an address laying out the imperative of continued support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to make the argument that it\u2019s overwhelmingly in the interests of the United States of America that Ukraine succeed,\u201d he said. White House officials provided no other details about the speech, including when Biden might deliver it.<\/p>\n He also told reporters, \u201cThere is another means by which we may be able to find funding\u201d should Congress fail to approve new aid, suggesting an effort to find workarounds as lawmakers stall on approving the assistance. Neither the president nor his aides would elaborate on the alternative means. Pentagon officials reiterated on Wednesday that the most effective mechanism for supporting Ukraine is still through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which needs to be replenished with the supplemental funds that are now in limbo.<\/p>\n For now, White House officials are closely monitoring the speaker\u2019s race unfolding on Capitol Hill for signs of how the Ukraine debate might play out. While publicly staying mum on any specific lawmakers eying the job, aides have been tracking closely the dividing lines among Republicans over providing more assistance.<\/p>\n The leading contenders for the job have voiced different positions on Ukraine. A pro-Kyiv group that grades Republican lawmakers on their support for Ukraine has assigned a B grade to Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who has voted for previous assistance packages. It assigned Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan an F, the lowest grade, pointing to his previous votes against Ukraine funding.<\/p>\n Jordan, who announced his bid for speaker on Wednesday, said he opposed a new aid package for Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m against that,\u201d he told CNN\u2019s Manu Raju when asked if he would bring a Ukraine package to the floor if elected speaker.<\/p>\n For months, top administration officials have voiced confidence that new Ukraine funding would eventually be approved by the Republican House, despite the protestations of several conservatives. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, has predicted a process of \u201cto-ing and fro-ing\u201d among Republicans before eventually a \u201cstrong bipartisan support to continue funding Ukraine\u201d emerges.<\/p>\n This summer, Biden requested an additional $24 billion in funding for Ukraine on top of the hundreds of billions already approved in US assistance. The stopgap measure that passed last weekend included no new Ukraine funds.<\/p>\n As lawmakers prepare for another government funding battle, there are growing calls in both chambers and from both parties for the White House to send Congress a single supplemental funding bill for Ukraine that would take American funding for the war in Ukraine through 2024 and past the election, two senior Republican congressional aides told CNN.<\/p>\n The bill wanted, the aides said, would be in the tens of billions of dollars \u2013 far higher than the $24 billion requested by the White House in August. That argument has been made both privately to the White House, one of the aides said, but also publicly.<\/p>\n On Sunday Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told CBS News: \u201cI\u2019m worried about next year, we will produce in the United States Senate, Ukraine funding $60 (billion) or $70 billion, not 24, to get them through next year.\u201d<\/p>\n In conversations with their European counterparts, American officials have sought to reassure them they are actively working with Congress on passing new Ukraine aid, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n One fear among administration officials is that an extended delay in providing new funding for Ukraine could lead to other nations backing off their own support, given the similar political pressures felt by other world leaders.<\/p>\n If there are continuing doubts about US funding and it slows, there will be cracks among the European supporters of Ukraine, a European ambassador in Washington told CNN, warning the anti-Ukraine forces in Europe will \u201crear their heads.\u201d<\/p>\n This instability is fueling the Russian perception that they can wait the West out, the ambassador added, and that divisions will form. The attitude is: \u201cyou are weak, if we test you, you will blink.\u201d<\/p>\n In a joint phone call with several NATO allies on Tuesday, Biden sought to reassure them of sustained American commitment to Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u201c(I) made the case that I knew that the majority of the American people still supported Ukraine and the majority of the members of the Congress, both Democrat and Republican, support it,\u201d Biden said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Still, the assurances previously provided to Biden by McCarthy about providing Ukraine aid have been scrambled by his departure from GOP leadership.<\/p>\n \u201cWhoever the new speaker is, I\u2019m sure it will have a significant impact on what additional support for Ukraine looks like. And we\u2019ll have to figure out how to pull together a coalition to pass something over there,\u201d Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, told reporters.<\/p>\n Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, expressed similar concerns about Ukraine aid.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m deeply concerned. There is an urgency, and we need to move forward whatever it takes. And border security is certainly on the table. We need to move forward with a real sense that time is not on our side. There\u2019s an urgency,\u201d he told CNN.<\/p>\n The uncertainty has rattled Ukrainian officials who have long feared a slowdown in international support.<\/p>\n Asked if she\u2019s afraid US military support will end, Ukraine\u2019s ambassador to Washington told CNN: \u201cOf course, it worries us even if it\u2019s delayed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe [are] 100% dependent on our friends and allies,\u201d Ambassador Oksana Markarova said. \u201cAll we need, as Winston Churchill once said, are the tools. Give us the tools and we will finish the job.\u201d<\/p>\n Another Ukrainian official expressed confidence it will eventually work out.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not panicking, I still believe it\u2019s going to be fixed,\u201d the official told CNN, noting the Pentagon said Tuesday there is still over $5 billion worth of military equipment to disburse to Ukraine from the Presidential Drawdown Authority.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe in US democracy,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n